McDonald's Worker Sets Restaurant On Fire Over Customer Frustration

A McDonald's restaurant employee, Joshua Daryl McGregor, was sentenced to five years in prison after he intentionally set the restaurant on fire in April 2023 in Savannah, Georgia. Frustrated by the influx of customers, McGregor set a piece of cardboard alight and flung it into a dumpster full of flammables outside the restaurant.

According to a release by the US attorney office, the fire became so intense that customers in the drive-through lane had to back out of the parking lot, and the restaurant was forced to briefly close while the Savannah Fire Department extinguished the blaze. McGregor, who filmed the fire with his cell phone, was identified on surveillance video as starting the fire. He was arrested by Savannah Police Department investigators, and in May pled guilty to arson in US District Court.

"Intentionally setting a fire in an effort to shut down or damage someone else's property is inexcusable," said US Attorney Steinberg. "Joshua McGregor will have substantial time to ponder his post-prison employment options."

"Arson is an extremely violent crime that not only destroys property but also places firefighters, first responders and the general public at great risk," said Beau Kolodka, Assistant Special Agent in Charge for the ATF Atlanta Field Division. "The ATF, along with the Savannah Fire's Arson Unit and our other law enforcement partners, are committed to ensuring that our communities are safe and that those who commit these dangerous acts are held accountable."

"Savannah Fire's Arson Unit greatly appreciates our continued ability to work with our local and federal partners to successfully prosecute arson that effects interstate commerce in our jurisdiction," said Fred Anderson, chief investigator for the Savannah Fire Arson Unit. "These efforts made as a partnership have continued to help make our community safer and greatly reduce the act of arson throughout the city." 

The case was investigated by the Savannah Fire Department, the Savannah Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Makeia R Jonese.